Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

Some other lesbian themed films for Amy's French boyfriend to critique: High Art, My Summer of Love, Heavenly Creatures and if you like your lesbians a little older there's Vanessa Redgrave's magnificent turns in The Bostonians and If These Walls Could Talk 2.

Just got caught up on Argo. I am puzzled by what seemed to have been near universal praise for this one. What a dull, bloodless snooze. Affleck's shown himself to be a capable director in the past, but this one misses the mark and he's not a strong enough actor to anchor a film. If you're going to revise history, misrepresent the role of the Canadians, give the hiding American embassy workers nothing interesting to do or say and focus all of the attention on the CIA, you should probably cast a damn charismatic actor in the lead role.

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

So I saw Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm at the Cinerama last night, and it was so awesome to be able to revisit the film because I think the first time I saw it was at my grandmother's house when I was a teenager.

The film itself is totally stunning -- so many great long shots of the immense expanse of tan desert sand, and just tiny black spots for humans and camels emerging in the distance. These are scenes that worked especially well in the large scale, and I can imagine much of that anticipation being curtailed with a smaller screen. There were definitely a few scenes where the film looked a little off-color, but overall this print was pretty incredible considering the quality necessarily to project at that scale.

And of course it was fun to revisit the narrative and remember anew the character development of not only Lawrence, but also Ali and Auda, both of which have much more complex character arcs than I think I was expecting based on a general assumption that there would be a fair amount of Orientalist mentality applied to the depiction of Arabs. Also, man are there some zingers in that screenplay, including Lawrence's answer to a question about what attracts him to the desert ("It's clean") and the reporter talking about deception ("A man who lies like me merely hides the truth, but a man who tells half lies has forgotten where he has put it.")

There are a few things about the film that I'm still processing in my head -- How much of the homoeroticism in the film was intentional, and how much am I projecting? When Lawrence is back in Cairo and says that he has killed men, and that he enjoyed it, how much is he acting and how much does he genuinely believe it? To what extent does the film portray the complexities of so-called "Arab-ness," and to what extent does it over-simplify, especially as related to the fundamentally tribal, separtist and violent aspects depicted? And where on earth are the women?

I think we clocked in at about 4 hours total last night including intermission, but such a good way to spend a Friday night. And a great reminder that it's 100% worth it to go back and re-watch films I haven't seen in a while.

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

Originally Posted by TallGuyCM

Last night I noticed I had 15 movies from my Netflix Instant queue that expire at the end of this month, much more than usual. Just a fyi for anyone that maybe needs a little push to watch a few of those movies that have just been sitting there (assuming others might have a similar situation).

Can we look forward to 15 highly insightful tweets?

Originally Posted by ruetheday

I don't fucking care. I don't even know who the hell Dave Wang is.

Originally Posted by Devin the Dude

you used to be that guy that just Dave Wang's everybody. that guy. he's gone now, and whoever you really are showed up, and that was utter disappointment.

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

Also, I can't and won't say much, but David o has another winner on his hands.

After a 9 year losing streak?

Originally Posted by guedita

The childless 20-something year olds on the board who find a 50 something year old man fucking teenage prostitutes distasteful will probably change the hum of their tune once they produce babies, definitely. That's the missing link.

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

Originally Posted by schoolofruckus

After a 9 year losing streak?

Bah! He hasn't made a film I hated and I love most of them. His boxing pic being my least favorite.

I'm interested to see what your reaction will be. If it's universally praised will you hate it or if most people pan it will you love it? In all seriousness though, something in me believes you'll dig this one.

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

Originally Posted by KungFuJoe

Bah! He hasn't made a film I hated and I love most of them. His boxing pic being my least favorite.

I'm interested to see what your reaction will be. If it's universally praised will you hate it or if most people pan it will you love it? In all seriousness though, something in me believes you'll dig this one.

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

So I finally saw the Payne movie Election tonight. Would have never thought much of watching it if it wasn't for the people talking about it on the last page or two. I must say the only issue I had with the movie was that I didn't see it while I was in high school. Not that it is a movie for teenagers but while I was watching it I was just thinking back about my life and how I could relate to it a lot. Actually maybe it's better served for the role instead of a teenager watching it but either way I really like it. And then ending was pretty fucking funny.

Originally Posted by Drinkey McDrinkerstein

Why aren't there more good role models for fat people who fall down a lot?

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

Election is a fantastic movie. If you watch a movie 14 years ago (or whatever) and still remember the name Tracy Flick, they've done something right.

Back to 2013 - we watched "Prisoners" last night and f'ing loved it. With no spoilers, you get just enough in the trailer to understand the suspense of the movie, but the movie delivers big time on the promise of the premise. The shift of the movie changes a little from the first two acts to the third, but we were literally on the edge of our seats for an hour and a half of the film. Great performances by pretty much everybody from the Prince of Persia to Wolverine to Tony Stark's ex-best friend, with the milkshake guy and Kay Howard from Homicide both checking in.

If you liked Seven or Zodiac or Gone Baby Gone, you should like Prisoners.

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

Originally Posted by TomServo

If you liked Seven or Zodiac or Gone Baby Gone, you should like Prisoners.

I was obsessed with Gone Baby Gone when it came out and have seen it several times. I'm going to Seattle in a few weeks to see a friend and we planned to see Prisoners together when I'm there. Really looking forward to it.

Originally Posted by M Sparks

It's all riding on this. You've got big dreams to ride to the top of the Flash Mob world. Well internet fame costs. And right now is when you start paying for it...in sweat.

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

This was probably asked before in this thread, so I apologize for repeating,
but does anyone know what the difference is between IMAX & RPX is?
Are any of them worth the extra $$$ to see any movie?
Let me know what you guys think,
thank you!

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

Originally Posted by unit300021

So I finally saw the Payne movie Election tonight. Would have never thought much of watching it if it wasn't for the people talking about it on the last page or two. I must say the only issue I had with the movie was that I didn't see it while I was in high school. Not that it is a movie for teenagers but while I was watching it I was just thinking back about my life and how I could relate to it a lot. Actually maybe it's better served for the role instead of a teenager watching it but either way I really like it. And then ending was pretty fucking funny.

Originally Posted by TomServo

Election is a fantastic movie. If you watch a movie 14 years ago (or whatever) and still remember the name Tracy Flick, they've done something right.

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

I watched C.O.G. (based on a short story by David Sedaris) the other day. It's a bit odd in its twists back and forth between farcical humor and dark, depressing themes. It wasn't horrible, but I'm not sure I would recommend it either, unless you're a huge Sedaris fan.

Re: Schoolio's Movie Corner

So what challenges did you face while being the lead in this movie, Malcom?

Also I'm super excited to see "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" at this local theater followed by walking across the street to this restaurant with $10 bottomless pitchers of craft beer in a couple weeks.